God Save the King !
by Mosteyn
Summary: It's 1937 and protocol demands the attendance of the Earl and Countess of Grantham at the coronation of King George VI.


**A/N:** So this particular bit of crack was inspired by the fact I discovered this year that the coronation of George VI, the present queen's father, was the first outside broadcast by the BBC - and they had some wonderful footage of peers getting ready and arriving at Westminster abbey. So I couldn't resist !

Oh and the bit about the sandwiches ? True. The breeches - not sure but again, too good to resist !

**A/N2** : And thanks to _GothamGirl28_ who reminded me that I had neglected to include Michael, the smallest Branson ! He's now got his own place in the story :-)

* * *

**Eaton Square, London, May 12th, 1937, 7:00am**

"Golly !" said Sybil, sounding unintentionally like her teenaged daughters. "You look rather splendid !"

Mary Crawley, Countess of Grantham, looked at herself in the mirror. Over her white silk dress she was wearing a scarlet and ermine cloak and balanced on her immaculate hair was what looked like a small crown - the coronet of a Countess. She shimmered.

"This thing is going to fall off my head," she grumbled. "I can't look down. I'll have a stiff neck at the end of the day."

"I remember Mama wearing it to the old King's coronation," said Edith, smiling from the window seat. "We were in Grantham House and could see the procession from the bedroom window."

Mary sighed at the mention of the old London house, now sold to an American oil firm who wanted it as their London headquarters. Aunt Rosamund's old house in Eaton Square served their purpose as a family home much better, but Mary couldn't help thinking it was a lucrative but unromantic end for the place that had been the Crawley's London home since the time of the French revolution.

"It was rather exciting," agreed Sybil, walking round Mary to admire her from the other side.

"I'm rather surprised you're here," said Mary. "I thought Tom would have banned you all from coming within a mile of such Royalist fervour."

"I think he's rather amused by the fact that Matthew will have to put on full ceremonial regalia. I rather fancy I heard him laughing at Matthew's silk breeches."

Mary turned to her sister, wincing as the heavy coronet pulled her hair. "Matthew is _mortified_ at having to wear those breeches. He thought he would be able to wear his regimentals."

"Well, at least he does have a very shapely leg," said Sybil gravely. Mary widened her eyes and Sybil, Anna and Edith dissolved into a fit of giggles.

"Oh stop it, please…." she was interrupted by the door opening and George putting his head round the door.

"Papa says are you ready because Aunt Rose wants to take the photographs and he says you have to leave in plenty of time."

"I'll be right down, darling," she smiled serenely at her son.

As soon as the door had closed, Mary groaned.

"I can't think why Matthew agreed to let Rose take photographs at this time of the morning. It's simply not civilised."

"You'll not be back until late," said Sybil, "and you know how much Mama wants one of the two of you."

"And it's not just Mama," Edith reminded her. "Isobel wants one as well."

"Does she ?" asked Sybil, surprised.

"Oh yes," replied her sister. "I think she wants it as proof that Matthew really is an Earl"

"I suppose I'd better go down," Mary said. "Anna, could you help me off with this robe ? I don't think I can manage the stairs in it."

"Yes, milady, of course."

"Are you going to watch the procession, Anna ?" asked Edith.

"No, milady," Anna replied, carefully unclasping the heavy cloak from Mary's shoulders. "Mr Bates doesn't really like the crowds. We'll watch it on the new television set with the rest of the staff."

"And Tom," said Sybil, darkly. "I'm taking the girls to see it, but he says he's going to watch it on the television. In fact, I think the television is the only reason he came."

"I think that is what Matthew would do if he had a choice," said Mary, "he's been rather obsessed with it since he got it. I can't really see the point of it. I'd rather listen to the wireless."

Sybil sighed. "Tom would love one, but of course you can't get it in Manchester. And even if you could, we couldn't really afford it."

"It's a waste of money anyway," said Edith. "It'll never catch on. Let me give you a hand with that, Anna. It's very heavy."

"Mary ! Will you hurry up ! We can't be late !"

Mary closed her eyes.

"Matthew may be an Earl, but sometimes he is still _so_ middle class. Yelling up the stairs, indeed…..will you be a darling and tell him I'm just coming, Sybil ?"

Sybil smiled broadly and slipped out of the room to hang over the bannister. She saw her brother-in-law in his robes looking up at the landing, flustered and out of sorts. Her husband was stood next to him, smirking from ear to ear.

"She's just coming, Matthew. She looks beautiful."

Sybil noticed Tom's eyes swivel from Matthew to herself and his smirk become a genuine smile. She knew what he was thinking and she felt herself start to blush. How ridiculous, she thought, after all these years he can still make me feel warm by just looking at me. She shook herself and started down the stairs as Mary appeared on the landing, flanked by Edith and Anna carrying the scarlet robe between them. Sybil had the satisfaction of seeing her cousin's mouth drop wide open. Even her own husband raised an eyebrow at the sight before him. Mary did look magnificent.

"Well," she said, looking down at her husband as a queen would look down upon her subjects, "will I do ?"

"My darling - you look absolutely splendid !"

Mary gave him a small smile. She glided down the stairs with her head held stiffly upright. Her inability to bend her head made her look down at the people assembled in the hall with an air of hauteur that was quite unintentional. She looked positively imperial - something that Tom could not help but comment on.

"Your sister should be careful," he said, leaning into Sybil. "If Queen Elizabeth sees her looking like that, she'll have her sent to the tower."

She shook her head and slipped her hand through his arm, giving it an affectionate tug.

"Come on. Let's join the others and let Mary and Matthew get on with things without you teasing them."

"I don't know what you mean !" he said innocently.

Sybil gave him a look that told him he would be in serious trouble if he persisted, so he tried to look suitably penitent and let her lead him into the drawing room to join the Dowager Countess and the children, but not before he managed to exchange a clandestine grin with Edith who followed them.

"Mummy ! Can Peter come with us ? "

Aoife and her cousin Peter were as thick together as George and Naimh were prone to fighting. And as ever, Aoife was impatient for things to get started.

"Have you asked your Mama, Peter ? " asked Sybil.

"Papa said I could, as long as I didn't make a nuisance of myself and you didn't mind, " said Peter hopefully. "George wants to stay here with Granny."

"Then of course you can come, " she smiled. "It will be lovely to have a young man with us."

Peter beamed with pleasure and seemed to grow another inch, ready to assume his responsibilities. She heard Niamh chortle from where she was lounging on a chair, hidden behind one of her Aunt Edith's fashion magazines. At sixteen, she had suddenly filled out and was starting to look even more like her father. Her grandmother could tell she was going to be beautiful, but in a different way from her mother. Her wide shoulders and shapely figure, combined with her father's eyes and her mother's dark hair reminded Cora of nothing so much as than an avenging Celtic goddess. She had inherited her parent's hatred of injustice as well, and Cora was sure she was quite capable of exacting righteous retribution where necessary.

"You'll have to go early," she said, "if want to get a good spot." Cora was balancing the nearly two-year old Michael, the youngest Branson, on her lap.

"What are you going to do, Granny ?" asked Niamh, putting her magazine down and slowly pulling herself up into a sitting position, before wrapping her hands in the sleeves of her cardigan and folding her arms to her chest.

"Michael and I are going to watch it on the television with your Papa and the staff. I'm quite exited !"

"Not you as well," groaned Edith. "What is this television mania ?"

"Edith doesn't think it will catch on," explained Sybil.

"Edith is wrong," replied Tom. "It will open up the world for people. If it can show us the King's coronation, just think what else it could show us ! It will put you and me out of a job," he grinned at his sister-in-law.

"People will always read newspapers," she said, shaking her head.

"Maybe," he admitted, "but this is the future…."

Their good-natured argument was put on hold by the appearance of Rose at the door.

"Right - the photographs are all done, so they're just leaving," she smiled.

The Earl and his Countess were waiting for the Rolls to draw up outside the house. Matthew was peering through the window.

"Is it raining ? I think it is, you know. Barrow, be a good chap and get an umbrella, will you ? If this gets wet, it'll never dry out." He was wearing his robes and carrying the heavy coronet tucked under his arm.

"What's that in your coronet ?" his wife asked, spying something that looked suspiciously like a brown paper packet.

Matthew looked at Mary like a startled sheep - a sure sign, she knew, that he was up to something.

"Matthew ?"

He shrugged.

"I had Mrs Mason make up some sandwiches."

"What ! You are not seriously going to sit through the King's Coronation munching cheese sandwiches !"

"They're ham !"

"It doesn't matter if they are made of Beluga caviar - you can't _picnic _during the coronation !"

"But we're going to be there all day ! I'll be starving ! I won't eat them during the important bits, anyway. And it's not funny," he scowled at his brother-in-law who was trying very hard not to laugh.

"_Matthew_ !"

"It's not just me. George Monmouth said he was going to do the exactly the same thing when I saw him in the Lords last week…."

"Milady, the car is here."

Mary gave her husband a withering look.

"Well, we don't have time for all that now. We'd better go." And with that she kissed her sisters, and assisted by Anna, swept out to the car. Matthew followed, holding his robes above his feet.

"You'll be glad of them later !"

* * *

It turned out to be a wet day. Sybil and the children arrived back home damp but excited, as much by the crowds as by the procession. Cora had sat next to Tom and watched the whole proceedings on a small black and white screen no bigger than a hatbox, mesmerised by the flickering images and desperately watching for Mary and Matthew every time the camera panned round the assembled peers of the realm. Her youngest grandson did his republican father proud and remained entirely unmoved by the occasion, fidgeting in her lap until he was passed off to Daisy and Anna to be made a fuss of. Matthew and Mary finally arrived home at 6 o'clock in the evening, having waited an hour and a half for their car. Dinner had to wait whilst the Countess had a long, warm bath and the Earl changed into something more comfortable and helped himself to a stiff drink. But it was a dinner that Sybil was to remember fondly in future years. The children were allowed to eat with them and everyone had a story to tell, whether it was of the Coronation itself, the wonderful new television or the marvels of a procession that even the rain couldn't dampen. As the new King sat on a throne that had been used by Edward the Confessor, the whole country felt the weight of its history - good kings, bad kings, mad kings, evil kings - and queens as well. She would think in later years that on that evening they had no idea how close they would come to seeing the final chapter of that history. The world as they knew it was about to change , but that evening they laughed together as a family, laying down a memory that would bring them brightness and light as Europe went dark. But as she sat at dinner, the war was still lurking just out of sight, so she joined in the toast to the new King and Queen and let herself believe that the best of the future was yet to come.


End file.
